UK smartphone users rate phone calls above mobile wallets

UK smartphone users rate ease of use, call reception and battery life as more important than new designs or features including mobile wallets according to uSwitch, a UK broadband and phone price comparison and switching service.

A survey of 5,306 smartphone users in the country revealed that 28 per cent rate ease of use as the most important feature of their devices, followed by 21 per cent who cited call reception and the same number battery life.

In contrast, 13 per cent said mobile payment technologies were a must have feature, with 4 per cent rating the importance of curved displays, such as those featured on Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge and recently announced Galaxy S6 Edge+.

The price comparison site said that 62 per cent of respondents believe smartphone makers are forgetting the basic functions required in a mobile phone as they seek to add a raft of new services and functionalities to devices.

UK users also want manufacturers to beef up the durability of smartphones. Some 70 per cent of respondents said anti-shatter screens would add value to their devices, and 57 per cent that water proofing would be a useful feature. Three quarters of those surveyed also said security features are more important today than they were a year ago.

Existing features including zoom camera lenses remain a high priority, with 49 per cent rating them as useful.

Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at uSwitch.com, said the survey results show UK smartphone users are getting wise to gimmicks used by manufacturers to differentiate their products. "While mobile makers need phones that stand out from the throng, they sometimes forget that a phone is primarily a phone, and it still needs to do all the basics extremely well -- such as make calls and not run out of battery."

However, Doku said UK users "crave real innovation" in smartphone features, such as biometric security.

uSwitch's survey found that 34 per cent of UK iPhone owners use fingerprint security features on a daily basis.

For more:
- see this uSwitch release

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